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Chicago Bears wide receiver D.J. Moore didn’t sound too happy with the NFL referees after they called him twice for offensive pass interference during Week 10’s win over the Carolina Panthers on Thursday Night Football.
Officials threw the first flag on Moore for his blocking during a screen to Roschon Johnson on 3rd-and-19 in the second quarter. The second happened on 3rd-and-9 in the third quarter when Moore bumped Panthers cornerback Troy Hill as the latter shadowed wide receiver Trent Taylor, who gained 16 yards on the play for the Bears.
The Panthers declined the first penalty to force the Bears to punt, but they accepted the second and more costly one and wiped out a first down for Chicago in the process.
“They was getting on my nerves today,” Moore said in the postgame. “Because they called me twice for it and then they’re going to the nerve to talk to me afterward. Don’t talk to me afterward because neither of them was pass interference. So that’s OK.”
Moore said he got an explanation for the first penalty call: that he drove the defender down the field too much. He received no explanation for the second call, though.
That’s when Moore hit them with the zinger: “Maybe we need other refs.”
Bears Will Submit Calls on DJ Moore to NFL for Review
The Bears did not hide their emotions about the two offensive pass interference calls that went against DJ Moore in the game. Moore expressed his frustration on the sideline following one of the calls. Offensive coordinator Luke Getsy also looked visibly upset about both calls when the Amazon Prime broadcast turned his direction.
The reason, of course, is simple: The Bears do not believe officials made the right calls. And while the Bears won and are happy the calls did not sink their chances against the Panthers, they are still going to request the NFL review both calls in the next week.
“I think we’re going to look at those and turn those in and we’ll see what they say,” Bears head coach Matt Eberflus told reporters during his November 10 press conference when asked about the calls. “But I certainly didn’t see anything there.”
The league cannot do anything retroactively to correct the mistakes if it finds during its review that officials made the wrong calls. If the Bears are correct, though, it might become a teachable moment for the officials and the league moving forward.
Moore Had Quiet Night Against Former Panthers Team
The last time Moore stepped into the Thursday Night Football spotlight, he caught eight passes for 230 yards and three touchdowns against the Washington Commanders. He delivered considerably tamer results, though, against the Panthers — the team that traded him to Chicago during the offseason — as the Bears struggled to move the ball.
Moore caught five of his nine targets for a team-high 55 yards against the Panthers, but his longest reception went for just 16 yards. He also did not catch a touchdown for the fifth straight game, dating back to his three-score romp against the Commanders.
Part of the problem, though, is Moore is catching passes from backup quarterback Tyson Bagent instead of starter Justin Fields. Bagent made his fourth career start against the Panthers on Thursday night and threw zero touchdown passes for the second time in the last three games. He is also averaging fewer than 200 passing yards per game over his four starts, which naturally lowers the output of his Bears receivers.
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